WWW Wednesday (March 16th)

This weekly meme is hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words. It’s open to all to participate. Why not join in and let us know what’s on your reading list this week…

To join in, just answer the following three questions…
• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

I’m still reading…

Dead Wake by Erik Larson

I’m really liking this but am just making such slow progress. It’s taken me nearly a week to read 100 pages, I could usually read a ‘regular’ novel in that time. I’m starting part two and the ship has only just set sail, there’s been a lot of build up in introducing the passengers and crew on board but also the back story to the U-boats crew.

The blurb

On May 1, 1915, with WWI entering its tenth month, a luxury ocean liner as richly appointed as an English country house sailed out of New York, bound for Liverpool, carrying a record number of children and infants. The passengers were surprisingly at ease, even though Germany had declared the seas around Britain to be a war zone. For months, German U-boats had brought terror to the North Atlantic. But the Lusitania was one of the era’s great transatlantic “Greyhounds”—the fastest liner then in service—and her captain, William Thomas Turner, placed tremendous faith in the gentlemanly strictures of warfare that for a century had kept civilian ships safe from attack.

Germany, however, was determined to change the rules of the game, and Walther Schwieger, the captain of Unterseeboot-20, was happy to oblige. Meanwhile, an ultra-secret British intelligence unit tracked Schwieger’s U-boat, but told no one. As U-20 and the Lusitania made their way toward Liverpool, an array of forces both grand and achingly small—hubris, a chance fog, a closely guarded secret, and more—all converged to produce one of the great disasters of history.

But I have squeezed this in…

The Jazz Files by Fiona Veitch Smith

I read this over the weekend and really enjoyed it. As a huge Marple fan I particularly liked the 1920s setting and look forward to more of the Poppy Denby Investigates series. It very much reminded me of the TV series Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries; which I’ve only seen a couple of episodes of but is of a similar vein.

The blurb

Set in 1920, The Jazz Files introduces aspiring journalist Poppy Denby, who arrives in London to look after her ailing Aunt Dot, an infamous suffragette. Dot encourages Poppy to apply for a job at The Daily Globe, but on her first day a senior reporter is killed and Poppy is tasked with finishing his story. It involves the mysterious death of a suffragette seven years earlier, about which some powerful people would prefer that nothing be said…

Through her friend Delilah Marconi, Poppy is introduced to the giddy world of London in the Roaring Twenties, with its flappers, jazz clubs, and romance. Will she make it as an investigative journalist, in this fast-paced new city? And will she be able to unearth the truth before more people die?

What’s up next?

The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith

This has been on my Kindle since publication and I’ve seen it doing the rounds lately on a couple of blogs which has prompted me to finally read it. I also needed a Kindle read for a train journey at the weekend 🙂

The blurb

When a troubled model falls to her death from a snow-covered Mayfair balcony, it is assumed that she has committed suicide. However, her brother has his doubts, and calls in private investigator Cormoran Strike to look into the case.

Strike is a war veteran – wounded both physically and psychologically – and his life is in disarray. The case gives him a financial lifeline, but it comes at a personal cost: the more he delves into the young model’s complex world, the darker things get – and the closer he gets to terrible danger…

I’m so pleased you enjoyed The Jazz Files! I absolutely loved it when I read it and can hardly wait for the next one in the series. I’ve not read The Cuckoo’s Calling either, and like you I’ve had it on my Kindle since release day! I must get to it soon. I hope you enjoy reading it this week.

Glad you’re sticking with Dead Wake. I really liked his descriptions of the passengers we get to know well. And enjoy Galbraith! I’ve liked the series. Happy reading and thanks for participating in WWW Wednesday!

The Jazz Files sounds great. I’ve just finished Olive Kitteridge, which I liked. I’m currently reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and I don’t know what to read next; maybe The Jazz Files.

Oh I absolutely loved Guernsey Literary! I only came across it last year and thought it was such a very good read! If you enjoy that you might also like 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff.
Thanks for visiting 🙂

Hopefully Dead Wake will pick up for you later on! I personally didn’t love The Cuckoo’s Calling, but it wasn’t a bad read either. I have meant to read the sequel for ages, but for now I still have to get a copy first haha. I hope you enjoy it! 🙂

Good luck with The Cuckoos Calling. It was good, but slow, and I wasn’t a fan on the ending. Thanks for sharing about Dead Wake..it’s so not my genre, but I just rented the audiobook. It’s nice knowing what to expect. Wish you the best 🙂